Black metal musician and neo-Nazi sympathiser Kristian “Varg” Vikernes was arrested in southwestern France on Tuesday after investigators decided he might stage a large “terrorist act”, Interior Minister Manuel Valls said. The police suspect the Norwegian national of planning a “massacre” and searched his house for weapons and explosives.

Vikernes, 40, a well-known black metal musician in Norway, was arrested with his French wife Marie Chachet after she recently bought four rifles, Valls said in a statement.

“Having received the manifesto before (Breivik) committed his crimes and having been sentenced in Norway in the past for murder, this individual, who was close to a neo-Nazi movement, was likely to prepare a large terrorist act,” Valls said.

Cachet, a member of a shooting club, purchased the rifles legally with her shooting permit. “The investigation will notably establish the conditions in which these (rifles) were acquired and their real objective,” Valls said.

The anti-terrorist prosecutor has been put in charge of the investigation. In a statement, the French Ministry of the Interior deemed him “likely to prepare a large-scale act of terrorism”.

Vikernes, the man behind black metal project Burzum, had spent 21 years in prison – the maximum sentence in Norway – for the murder of Øystein Aarseth, known as Euronymous, the guitar player of black metal band Mayhem.

Vikernes had also been convicted of arson attacks on four churches, he was freed in May 2009. He then moved to France with his wife and three children.

Vikernes, a Pagan and vocal neo-Nazi sympathiser, had reportedly received a copy of the manifesto of Anders Behring Breivik, the far-right terrorist responsible for the July 2011 Oslo bombing and Utoeya Massacre which left 77 dead. Breivik was sentenced to 21 years in jail for terrorism on August 2012.

Breivik sending a copy of a manifesto setting out his ideology to Vikernes, an official at the prosecutor’s office said. “That was the origin of the investigation… There were several suspicions that made the services fear he could possibly carry out a violent act,” the official said.

On his website, Vikernes discusses Breivik’s manifesto, but in a post called “War in Europe: Part V – Breivik Unveiled” he also criticises the murderer for killing more innocent Norwegians than Muslims. Vikernes, who describes himself as a “pagan,” accuses Breivik of being a Zionist agent and “Christian loser”.

“If you, dear European nationalists, really want to save Europe (as a biological term) you have to realise that the only thing to do is to cast aside all Christian other international nonsense and embrace only the European (i.e. Pagan) values and ideals and if you like the European deities as well,” said the posting, dated December 13. “If you work for Christianity in any way you work for the Jews. Plain and simple.”

The mayor of Salon La Tour, where Vikernes and his wife lived, said he had been surprised by the arrest. “I didn’t notice anything strange (about Vikernes) other than that he liked to wear military costumes and liked Gothic music,” Jean-Claude Chauffour told French media BFM TV.

Watch a brief documentary made shortly after Varg Vikernes was released from prison following his incarceration for the murder of Euronymous.

"To Breivik I can only say I hope you do kill yourself. You have killed more Norwegians than the entire Muslim population in Norway has done the last 40 years, and you claim to be a Norwegian nationalist and patriot fighting (alongside your Jewish masters) against Islam, to protect us against their crimes!? I am sorry to say so, but you have made a big mistake. Islam has been imported to Europe by Jews, so that guys like you would run to the Jews and fight for them like you did when you murdered future mothers of Norwegian children. Death to you and to all other ‘European’ Zionists out there as well! You are the main problem for Europe, because guys like you allow the Jews to run Europe into the ditch. The Jews would not have been able to do anything to us if it hadn’t been for Christian losers like you!”

The world would be a much cleaner place if blind people used brooms instead of canes

That guy couldn't lead ducks. Who uses four rifles to do a terrorist attack? This is kind of derp, seriously. If 'applied for a rifle permit, got rifle permit legally, then legally purchased rifles' is a crime, what's the point of the permit law?

Zero wrote:That guy couldn't lead ducks. Who uses four rifles to do a terrorist attack? This is kind of derp, seriously. If 'applied for a rifle permit, got rifle permit legally, then legally purchased rifles' is a crime, what's the point of the permit law?

okay, that's twice you got me, what's derp? can't be arsed to google it and anyway if you're going to use new lingo you should translate it.

Zero wrote:That guy couldn't lead ducks. Who uses four rifles to do a terrorist attack? This is kind of derp, seriously. If 'applied for a rifle permit, got rifle permit legally, then legally purchased rifles' is a crime, what's the point of the permit law?

okay, that's twice you got me, what's derp? can't be arsed to google it and anyway if you're going to use new lingo you should translate it.

Derp means stupidity or oafishness, often of a temporary nature. It's origins (I believe) are from South Park when a teacher who thought kids wanted to be entertained by pratfalls rather than be taught is brought in as a substitute for Mr. Garrison. His name was Mr. Derp.

Unlike the UK which has a larger vocabulary due to old Saxon, Norse, Celtic and Norman words or terms obtained from your old empire, the US has terms that come from television and are spread by the internet.

There has been much discussion lately concerning the word "derp" and its appropriate usage. For example, Josh Barro used the word to describe conservative bigmouth Erick Erickson, and Paul Krugman used it as well. This prompted a primer on the history of the term, followed elsewhere by the usual hand-wringing by self-appointed cultural policemen annoyed by the word.

Now, I myself have used the word "derp" quite a lot. Possibly more than any other pundit I know, with the exception of Dave Weigel. But in any case, not only do I consider myself an expert in the use of "derp", I also have a very precise idea of what "derp" means, and how it should be used. I think "derp" is incredibly useful as a term for an important concept for which the English language has no other word.

It has to do with Bayesian probability.

Bayesian probability basically says that "probability" is, to some degree, subjective. It's your best guess for how likely something is. But to be Bayesian, your "best guess" must take the observable evidence into account. Updating your beliefs by looking at the outside world is called "Bayesian inference". Your initial guess about the probability is called your "prior belief", or just your "prior" for short. Your final guess, after you look at the evidence, is called your "posterior." The observable evidence is what changes your prior into your posterior.

How much does the evidence change your belief? That depends on three things. It depends on A) how different the evidence is from your prior, B) how strong the evidence is, and C) how strong your prior is.

What does it mean for a prior to be "strong"? It means you really, really believe something to be true. If your start off with a very strong prior, even solid evidence to the contrary won't change your mind. In other words, your posterior will come directly from your prior. (And where do priors come from? On this, Bayesian theory is silent. Let's assume they come directly from your...um...posterior.)

There are many people who have very strong priors about things. For example, there are people who believe, very strongly, that solar power will never be cost-efficient. If you confront them with evidence of solar's rapid price declines, they will continue to insist that, despite this evidence, solar will simply never be cost-competitive with fossil fuels. That they continue to insist this does not necessarily make them irrational in the Bayesian sense; they simply have very strong priors. Someday they may be convinced - for example, if and when unsubsidized solar power starts being adopted on a mass scale. It'll just take a LOT to convince them. (A more entertaining example can be seen in this classic comedy video.)

But here's the thing: When those people keep broadcasting their priors to the world again and again after every new piece of evidence comes out, it gets very annoying. After every article comes out about a new solar technology breakthrough, or a new cost drop, they'll just repeat "Solar will never be cost-competitive." That is unhelpful and uninformative, since they're just restating their priors over and over. Thus, it is annoying. Guys, we know what you think already.

English has no word for "the constant, repetitive reiteration of strong priors". Yet it is a well-known phenomenon in the world of punditry, debate, and public affairs. On Twitter, we call it "derp".

So "derp" is a unique and useful English word. Let's keep using it.

(Also, the verb associated with "derp" is "herp". It describes the action of coughing a large sticky mass of derp onto the internet in front of you. For example, to use it in a sentence: "That twerp just herped a flerp of derp!" A "flerp" is a unit I made up. It is the amount of derp that can be herped by one twerp. See?)

Joan of Arc went to battle with nothingbut the voices in her headand a well-sharpened sword ~ Charlotte

Zero wrote:That guy couldn't lead ducks. Who uses four rifles to do a terrorist attack? This is kind of derp, seriously. If 'applied for a rifle permit, got rifle permit legally, then legally purchased rifles' is a crime, what's the point of the permit law?

Evidently the French cops think people conduct terrorist attacks with four rifles.

The world would be a much cleaner place if blind people used brooms instead of canes

Who is online

Please note that the topics discussed, opinions expressed and/or information provided in this forum are those of fellow forum participants only. Neither Robert Young Pelton, nor ComeBackAlive.com Inc., nor Ingle International Inc., nor any other person or entity involved in the creation or maintenance of this site, takes any responsibility or provides any endorsement for the topics discussed, opinions expressed or information provided in this forum. Any advice or information taken from this forum is entirely at your own risk.